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by Ysfael



Category: RWBY
Genre: Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Blake Belladonna Didn't Leave The White Fang, F/F, Faunus Ruby Rose (RWBY), Faunus Weiss Schnee, Faunus Yang Xiao Long, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Polyamorous Character, Spider Faunus Ruby Rose (RWBY), Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:53:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26508526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysfael/pseuds/Ysfael
Summary: The day that Ruby Rose was born was the happiest day of Summer Rose's life. Even if it led to her being kicked out and divorced by her husband.
Relationships: A bunch of Undecided ships, Ilia Amitola/Blake Belladonna, Raven Branwen/Summer Rose
Comments: 24
Kudos: 98





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Blood, death, injury

She walked through the room, taking care to step over and around the bodies and body part strewn about the room. Her left hand was returned to it’s humanoid 5-fingered form and holding her stomach were one of the cultist’s blade had gotten her through her aura.

It was survivable but just a few millimeters deeper and it would have gutted her.

The scent of blood was heavy in the room as was the scent of Grimm-ash. While the Grimm bodies had long since dissolved leaving only a layer of ash on every surface, the bodies formerly belonging to the Cult of Salem remained, in spite of being more Grimm than person.

Some of them might just be poor souls who thought world-wide genocide sounded a wonderful idea and followed of their own free will. But most were formerly poor or otherwise broken people searching for help and they found the Cult, who got them on their side with promises of everlasting pleasure only to implant them with the Parasytes. Grimm which burrowed deep into a person before fucking with their brain chemistry so they would follow the Cult’s goal of the extermination of all humans and Faunus in this world.

The third type seemed to believe that they would survive this genocide and rule the world that replaced the current one. Power-hungry idiots as far as she was concerned.

She granted them all a quick death. It was the least she could do for them.

She hated Salem with every last fiber of her being. The Immortal Queen of the Grimm use this people to fight her war while she lived a life of luxury in the Grimmlands, protected by so many Grimm even a Silver-eyed Warrior couldn’t hope to survive an assault on her position. She would know since her mother, Summer Rose, died on such an assault when she was 10.

No, she knew just how useless a direct assault would be against Salem. This wasn’t much better but at least she could slow the bleeding.

This little Cult Cell had been planning the sabotage of one of the outer Valen Walls which would allow for a Grimm Incursion. She estimated the death-toll of such an action anywhere between 100-5000 depending on just how quick hunter response was.

She considered the life of 20 cultist all corrupted by the Parasyte to be sacrifice for innocent lives.

It still hurt to kill people though. She hated it.

She wished she could do something for them but it was impossible to remove the parasyte without killing the host and capturing a cultist was as good as killing them as the Grimm would pump out a cocktail of hormones that would send it’s host into so many system failures that they died in seconds.

And even if you had someone with a strong healing semblance they damned parasyte replaced the brain-stem of their host to make room for their body while they maintained the autonomic actions of their host.

Salem had designed the Grimm with a purpose and they certainly filled that purpose in a disgusting way.

She felt sound coming from the hallway leading into this bunker. Grimm? Possible.

‘Is this the end of Ruby Rose?’ she asked to herself as she readied herself for another fight.

Her left hand shifted into a set of long and sharp claws as she leapt to a corner that would give her the best tactical advantage. Not a lot of place to hide but the corner was dark and her Faunus traits helped with that she her spider legs clung to the corner and she brought her camo-cloak up in front of her.

It wouldn’t fool Grimm or a detailed look but it would be good enough to hold up to a glance.

She was peeking out of a viewing port hidden in the cloak as the door opened and two people walked in.

One looked human while the other was a Spider Faunus just like her.

The human was tall, male, pale skin with dark short charcoal hair. He walked around the room with a slouch pushing over each of the bodies and looking at the killing blow. Strapped to his back was a folded Meka-shift weapon. Hunter grade for sure.

The Faunus had similar complexions though she was female. Weapon was a Katana, Dust rotary device integrated into sheath. Iaijutsu focused on shifting Dust-types. Hunter-grade. She walked with a precision around the bodies and after seeing one snapped to attention.

“Barely a minute old. Qrow, she’s still here. She has to be.”

The man, Qrow she supposed, (And why was that familiar?) snapped to attention moving to the door and shutting it.

“You sure Rae? We’ve been trying to find her ever since Summer died. She’s good. I wouldn’t be surprised if she sneaked by us on out way in. Those Guard dogs of theirs were a bit distracting.” He still reached for his weapon even if he didn’t draw it yet

Did these two know her mom? They mentioned her name.

“Ruby, Are you here?” the woman spoke. Her voice was Raspy, like she was trying to hold back strong emotions. She still hadn’t touched her weapon, not that that matter much when it came to a master of Iaijutsu.

She used aura to throw her voice.

“How do you know that name?” Her own voice was similarly raspy, though in her case due to disuse. She hadn’t spoken in close to 4 weeks now.

“Because it was the name I picked out for you…for if I ever had a Daughter…with Summer.”

**Memories came to her.**

> _“Why so sad my little Rose?” her mom had asked one day while she was staring into a fire longingly._
> 
> _“Why don’t we have a home?” she had asked in reply._
> 
> _“We do, we just need to find it.”_
> 
> _“If we don’t know where it is then how do we know it’s a home?”_
> 
> _“Because it’s a person, not a place. Raven…Your other mother.”_
> 
> _“If Raven is home then why isn’t she here with us?”_
> 
> _“Because she doesn’t know about you my little Rose.”_
> 
> _“Why not?”_
> 
> _“Because she left when we thought you were Taiyang’s. Raven never handled drama well and she just wanted out. It’s complicated I’m sorry to say.”_
> 
> _“I don’t get it.”_
> 
> _“Maybe one day you will. Just remember if something happens to me seek her out. Raven Branwen. She’ll help you if…if I’m ever unable to. You can trust her as you trust me.”_

She had forgotten that conversation. At least the name.

“Raven Branwen. Mom said I could trust you.”

“Summer, do you know where she-”

“Dead, almost 8 years ago.” She interrupted.

“I-I’m so sorry Ruby. I- Please, let me help you.”

Her wound was hurting like a bitch. She pulled back her cloak and skittered down from her hiding spot in the corner. Then she collapsed as her body stopped filling itself with adrenaline and she was aware of the panic voice of Raven before she was lifted up and carried out.

* * *

She awoke in a room. It was very white. Impeccably White. The white that only a Hospital bothered with.

She looked to the sides and saw the Raven woman sitting in the chair between her and the door. She was sat so that she could easily draw on anyone entering the door.

She was also lightly snoring.

At the foot of the bed was the man, Qrow if she remembered right.

“Hey kid. Good to see you’re up. It was a close thing. Deathstalker Venom in your wound. Surprised you could do much of anything after taking that hit.”

“I’ve had worse.” She replied. She could still use with another few days of sleep, her aura was fucked. If nothing else she was glad Raven was here since she’d be a sitting duck for the Cult if they decided to get the last Silver-eye out of their way while she was weakened.

Qrow picked up the sheet at the foot of her bed. “Yea, we saw when they started freaking out about your prosthetics. Apparently they didn’t expect a 18 year old girl to have that amount of scar tissue and missing limbs. Honestly You’ve got most hunters beat on that front. Ironwood’s the only person I know with more cybernetics what he went through to need those…yea I gotta say a little Deathstalker scratch is the least among your wounds…So how does it feel that that little wound might have been the one to do you in if we weren’t there to get you out.”

Bad, to be honest. She’d taken on that cell in the dumbest way. She’d just run past everything and started killing the cultists. No chance for them to call for help and give her position to the great cult. Just dead cultists and an army of Grimm at her back.

It was such a bad plan but when it came to the cult she did tend to do stupid shit.

“Bad.” She kept her reply simple.

“Damn, you are so Raven’s kid. Almost didn’t believe it even with your Faunus traits.”

She glared, she knew her eyes had turned red now. She could feel that tingle.

“More proof.” Qrow said with a smarmy grin.

“I will stab you. Don’t think I won’t just because you saved me.”

There was a laugh from her side. Raven. Apparently she had woken up at some point during her and Qrow’s back and forth.

“Welcome back to the waking world Sleeping Hag.” Qrow snarked to Raven

“Fuck off Qrow.” Raven glared at Qrow.

He shrugged, dropped the clipboard and went off waving behind him.

“Have fun you too, try not to stab each other.”

Ruby chuckled at that.

“Qrow’s an ass but he’s a good brother…sometimes at least.” Raven said.

Ruby shrugged. That seemed like a good summation of the man.

“What’s your plan from here?” Raven asked her.

“Not sure. Recover, get out of the city, figure things out from there I guess.”

“What…what if I had an idea?” Raven asked her nervously looking at her.

“And what is this idea?” she asked half expecting what she might say.

“Goto Beacon.”

That was not what she expected.

“Explain.”

“You’re good, a prodigy I’d say. But you lack something important. I was the same, when I was your age. Prodigy fighter who had more scars than most veterans. Summer wasn’t much different. Coming to Beacon was the best thing in my life. It helped me find that thing.”

“What thing?”

“Something worth living for. See, the way I saw it was that something worth dying for was easy to find. It always was. Dying is easy, Living is hard. Then Summer came into my life and well…I wanted to keep her there. And now you.”

Ruby sat back and thought.

“I’m only 18, Beacon acceptance is 21.”

“Oz is making an exception. He does it often enough.” Raven sounds annoyed at this Oz for some other reason.

“Who is Oz and why do you not like him?”

“Smart girl. Ozpin is the headmaster of Beacon and I don’t like him because he’s the leader of the war against Salem and her little cult and I don’t agree with how he handles things.”

“Why do you not agree?”

“If that bunker and some of the other Cult cells we found while tracking you down are anything to go by your response to the cult is much more in line with my preference. Kill them all, let the reaper sort them out.”

“Mercy of a quick death to those infected with the Grimm Parasyte.”

Raven nodded.

“Far as I’m concerned the cult are full of the walking dead.” Raven muttered.

“I agree…Mom did too before she died.”

“How…how did it happen?”

“She just left a note one day that she was going to attack Salem directly.It was really weird. Like weird word choices and disjointed as hell.” Ruby thought before sighing. “Can you get me my gear? I still have the note.”

Raven reached over to the side grabbing her gear and bringing it over to her.

Ruby easily snaked her arm into the backpack into the secret pouch that contained a few mementos of her mom including that letter.

She handed the note to Raven expecting the same confusion from her but instead she froze and read the letter before rushing to a side table and pulling a pen and notepad from it before she began writing down reading the letter and writing on the notepad at the same time.

“It’s a code we came up with for a class when we were at Beacon together. We kept developing it afterwards. That’s why her word choices are so off. She was sending me a message.”

Raven stared at the notepad before flipping the note looking for anything more before she sighed and passed Ruby the note.

**_‘Raven, I’m still alive. Tell Ruby. Love Ruby. Come help me if you can. Salem made a Vow to keep Ruby Safe until she was 18. I took it. I’m being kept prisoner. They’re studying my eyes I think. I love you both.’_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea will not leave. I must excise it through writing. Will be a bit more of a slow burn and I don't even know what relationships I might lean towards for this. Gonna let things develop organically and see what happens. Knowing my Poly Lesbian ass It'll be Poly and gay as hecc tho.
> 
> My other fic, Finding Family, is still being worked on if you're reading that one, I've just been busy(With girlfriends and rl stuff) and stuck with where I want to take things.


	2. Chapter 2

Yang was free. For the first time in her life totally fucking free. No dad to look over her shoulder and judge her every action. She was so excited to be getting out of that house and into Beacon if for no other reason than the freedom from her father.

The man wasn’t a terrible parent it was just that he was overprotective having driven off every girlfriend she even got close to with his paranoia while everything she did just wasn’t good enough in his eyes.

It was made worse by the fact that he had been her primary Combat teacher at Signal for her entire time there.

Now she was free of him and with all the cute girls she’d met since getting to Vale she was excited to maybe finally have a girlfriend that lasted longer than a week.

Maybe then by the time they met her dad they’d be prepared to fight for her instead of giving up.

Okay so maybe she was a little bitter.

In any case she was relaxing on the Bullhead to Beacon proper. Tomorrow was initiation and she was excited about that. She knew that Dad and Uncle Qrow had been partners and that her mom was apparently one of their teammates and Qrow’s twin sister.

Neither told her much else though. Qrow always looked like he wanted to but Dad always shut him down and then he’d be gone for months with dad getting angry any time the old drunk was brought up.

Yang stopped asking given that she liked when Qrow was around. Dad tended to be a bit more mellow when he was.

She went from group to group greeting old friends from Signal as well as introducing herself to new people.

She got a bit pissed with some asshole who started hitting on her after saying something really shitty about her being ‘comely and not one of those animals’

So she stepped on his foot and let her Eyes go red. She had found the oddity, probably from her mother, to be great for intimidation.

“You wanna repeat that you fuck?” she growled out.

He backed down and she left while flipping the bastard two birds.

“Racist Prick.” She muttered as she found someone to distract her.

It was a girl. Black hair cut short and covered by a beanie. One of her eyes was Amber and the other a bright blue. Her head was angled to hide them but with her vestigial Faunus trait of Low-light vision she could see that her eyes had slitted.

“Dude’s an asshole for sure. If he makes it through initiation I’m guessing Ima be breaking his legs before semester’s over.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talk-”

“Sure you don’t.” She smirked before whispering at a volume only she might hear. “Your eyes were slitting.”

The girl looked shocked and a little fearful.

Yang tried to set her at ease. “Yang Xiao Long. Just because I can pass for human doesn’t mean I am.”

The cat Faunus actually looked surprised at that and nodded. “Blake. Just Blake.”

“Well Just Blake, It’s a pleasure to meet you. Cute Beanie by the way. Fits you well.” Yang lightly flirted.

Blake groaned at the smart-ass response.

“What Cat got your tongue?” she punned.

“Please no.” Blake said in response while glaring and fighting off a chuckle.

Yang made it her mission to make this girl laugh.

The Bullhead was too short a ride to succeed and the moment her attention was drawn to a friend calling out to her she lost Blake.

She was hoping that they’d get paired up as Partners. She was cute and seemed cool.

After the speech from Ozpin(dude was weird), she found a training room to blow off some steam. She was excited for initiation and the idea of sleeping with this excitement was not something she wanted to try.

Fortunately training herself into the ground was a good way for her to get herself tired enough to sleep through the night.

She’d taken a shower in one of the gym showers. It wasn’t perfect but sooner or later she’d have her ‘secret’ revealed so she stripped and let her legs out to stretch. The darkish brown chitin of her spider legs unfurling from where she folded and curled them over her back felt wonderful. She hated having to hide them but dad always got pissy when she let them out.

While her dad had never raised his voice or a hand to her for anything aside from training he got pissy like nobody else she knew and she hated it when he did that.

So she hid them to keep him happy.

But she was at Beacon now and could let them be free without issue.

Not quite now, Insect/Arachnid Faunus had a bad reputation due to people like Tyrian DeathStalker.

It was bullshit like most any anti-Faunus propaganda but she still figured it was a good idea to keep her legs a secret until she had a team then reveal her Faunus trait.

She also needed to get used to fight with them out since they were the type of Faunus Trait you could learn to fight with effectively.

Still after swashing off the sweat she retired to the common hall where a number of cots were out and waiting for the incoming student hopefuls to fill them. She found her bed and collapse into blessed sleep.

* * *

Weiss’s teeth _**hurt**_. That was expected, planned for even. She hadn’t be able to do her normal routine on the Airship ride to Vale, neither could she once she arrived as her body guard was entirely too diligent on her father’s orders. A recent hit by the White Fang had him on edge enough for all of them.

Her body guard refused to let her leave his sight outside of a windowless bathroom and even then if she took longer than a minute the woman would start knocking on the door to make sure she was okay.

It was maddening and the Pain only made it worse.

The only positive was that she was well aware of her Pain Pill prescription so she could take them to help with the pain.

It still hurt like hell and while her Bodyguard had finally left her after their arrival at beacon. That hadn’t changed her inability to perform her routine. Without a room to do it in she couldn’t have the privacy she needed and the idea of doing her routine in a public shower was unthinkable.

When a dark haired girl with a beanie approached her she nearly fainted from anxiety but her father’s training prevent such a unsightly thing.

“Weiss Schnee?” she questioned looking at her.

“Yes, and you are.” She said with a smile and held out her hand.

“Blake. And I don’t shake hands with Slavers.” Then the now named Blake glared at her and walked off.

Weiss couldn’t hold it against her. Her father and the SDC as a whole did take advantage of Slave Labor from their significant Faunus workforce. She hated it. Disagreed entirely with it actually. But she was a child in her father’s eyes. If she spoke out against him he would…reeducate her.

She only needed to experience that once in her life to know she never wanted to experience that again. It would be entirely pointless if she got herself killed by speaking out against her father and the secret that she had kept her entire life was revealed to him.

She wasn’t sure how she could claim the position of CEO from under her father’s nose but she had to do something. Her honor and sense of morals required it.

She decided she liked this Blake. The bravery needed to tell a Schnee to her face that she was a Slaver was something she appreciated. It was something she wanted in her life.

Even if it would take some convincing of this Blake to be a friend Weiss was willing to try. She could use a friend who was vocally supportive of Faunus Rights.

The Speech from Headmaster Ozpin was weird, it almost seemed like he wasn’t entirely there.

Nevertheless she tried to speak with a number of people but they either noticed her name and fawned over her or gave a nasty look. Of the two reactions she prefer the Nasty looks. She took notes of what each of her future classmates thought of her for later consideration.

Was it odd that the people who’s initial reaction was a nasty look were those she wanted most as friends? Perhaps but if she knew one thing it was that she could be considered a weird girl.

Even if her Father had beaten that out of her with her training. At least she could act normal enough even if her inner-most self was not.

After a day full of making Enemies and Sycophants she was tired and needed to rest. Tomorrow she got a team and with any hope she prayed for one who would become her friends. She was so sorely lacking in friends and she wondered what they would be like.

* * *

Blake couldn’t keep her contempt for these people out of her mind. Why Adam had given her this assignment she was unsure.

‘Goto Beacon’ he said ‘Train to become a Huntress.’ He said. ‘Bring all that training back to the Fang.’

It was a good plan. Hunters were by far some of the strongest fighters in Remnant and Beacon at least was friendly enough to Faunus Students that she could get in. Even if she was hiding her Faunus features from the other students the Faculty knew she was Faunus. False records of a Blake NoName had been forged. The child of a set of Faunus who were affiliated with the Fang but died in a Grimm Incursion on a Settlement back before her actual parents left the Fang to Sienna. Blake NoName had been part of the White fang directly after but left at the same time as the Belladonnas. Then she had joined a Traveling Caravan of Faunus and grew up with them while being taught by the kindly Defender Thomas how to fight Grimm and Bandits.

This Blake was a good candidate for Beacon.

Her real identity would have been arrested as soon as she submitted her application. In a society that valued property over people and especially Faunus she was a criminal. She could live with that though.

The Yang girl had surprised her on the bullhead. And reminded her of her girlfriend Ilia.

Fuck she missed Ilia. She’d be away from her for 4 years and that seemed entirely too long for her comfort.

Still she agreed with Adam’s plan even if she was annoyed with him. She was allowed to be pissed even while agreeing with her surrogate Brother.

The little stab at the Schnee girl was nice until she looked back and saw the look in the girl’s eyes.

She had expected anger and pretension.

Instead what she saw was admiration and almost something like appreciation.

She she rolled her jaw in a way that was distinctly not common amongst humans before rubbing it.

She’d seen similar motions from Faunus wearing False teeth to hide Faunus traited teeth.

Canines, Sharks and Snakes were the common suspects there and to see a Schnee doing it raised questions.

She’d need to keep an eye on the Schnee…Maybe probe her a bit if she could get close to her.

After that she listened to a speech from the headmaster and then decided to check out the grounds. If this was to be her home for the next 4 years she needed to acclimate herself to the area. Also create some escape plans for if her association with the White Fang was discovered.

Best to be prepared afterall.

Once the sun began to set she went to eh Common Hall which had been filled with cots and found hers to set down and read for a bit before bed.

She underestimated her anxiety and the noise that a room full of people created passively.

Snores, the mumbles of sleep talking people and the constant rustle of covers and creaky cots was more than her Ears, even covered by her Beanie as they were, could handle when she was already anxious.

She walked out not bother to hide her Faunus sight. Anyone that could have seen her would be Faunus too and therefore unlikely to reveal her.

She found one of several little areas that opened up to a little outside veranda. She breathed in the sweet scent of air untainted by people and relaxed.

Then the wind shifted and she picked up the scent of old blood.

She turned to where the scent was coming from and found nothing.

She continued to look until she heard a chuckle as the hiding person appeared. Camo-Cloak, Highend Atlasian Gear.

“Sup.” The girl said with a wave of her hand.

From her back she could see 8 spider legs. Each one had what was presumably a weapon near the tip. Her hair was long and a wild mix of Red and Charcoal Black all done up in a Braid which was pulled over one shoulder.

Her arms were heavily armored…no they were prosthetics bare of clothes.

Legs too now that she got a closer look.

Matte black with blood-red highlights.

She smelled of old blood. Possibly leftover in the cracks of her prosthetics. She knew a guy in the Fang that had often complained about cleaning his and how it was possibly to get all the blood smell out of them once you had bled on them.

“Who are you?”

“Ruby Rose.” She let out an annoyed sigh. ”Unwilling Future Beacon Student. You?”

“Blake. Why unwilling?”

“Cause my mom is forcing me to stay here. Becoming a Huntress is my goal regardless but I have things I’d rather be doing and she’s made it clear I don’t have a choice in this matter. Fucking cheater.” She ended her statement with a mutter.

“Okay, why are you out here?”

“Same reason you are I suppose. I don’t do well in crowds and that room...Yeah way too much for me to handle. I’m quite comfortable out here. A Bed ain’t worth putting up with that.”

“Fair enough” Blake finally relaxed reasonably sure she wasn’t talking to an assassin or something.

Blake still needed to try and get some sleep and unlike this girl the cot was worth it in her opinion. She said goodbye and gave a wish of goodluck to her fellow Faunus and left for her Cot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once the words started they just wouldn't stop. Help


	3. Chapter 3

She flew through the air with a laugh as she held her arms out behind her bracing and fired her impact rounds propelling her forward ever faster.

Unfortunately her Ember Celica couldn’t keep her in the air for long as she was fast approaching the clearing she had been aiming for rolling with her landing to dissipate the force in what she would consider a perfect landing.

She checked the area for Grimm, no Grimm, and got moving in the given direction for where these relics were.

She had a shortlist of people she’d be hoping to get paired up with. Blake was top of that list. She was so incredibly fucking gay for that beanie it was saddening that it was probably only there to hide her Faunus trait. The rest of her outfit did nothing to assuage Yang’s gay disaster self.

Okay so maybe she was making bad decisions hoping to be partners with a cute girl she just met. What if she was a garbage person, or a garbage fighter. That would be worse by far.

It didn’t help.

Then thoughts of Blake were pushed from her mind as she heard the sound of fighting and rushed to help.

When she reached the clearing it was full of Beowulves. At the center was what Yang could only describe as a demented Ballerina twirling and slicing through the pack.

She was tall with long legs, Artificial given that they were just a sword from the knee down. 5 long claw like blades from each of her hands and more blades at the end of her spider legs.

She was spinning and twirling and flying across the clearing leaving Grimm Corpses in her wake. There was something like blood appearing all around her as she did her work cutting up Grimm before with a final kick she cleanly decapitated the final Grimm.

Was it bad that she was now thinking about this girl squeezing her head between her thighs? Couldn’t be.

The ‘Blood’ was floating to the ground and she approached it to see it was actually rose petals.

“So I guess we’re partners then.” The girl said less a question and more a statement.

“Yea, I’m Yang.”

“Ruby, lets move.”

The girl’s legs shifted and folded returning to a more typical human configuration.

“So I like your legs.” Her mouth blurted gaining a look from Ruby. She decided to just continue forward. “Yea, they look like they could crush a watermelon.”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Think you can lay off the flirting until after we’re finished here.”

“So I can flirt all I want after we’re done?”

“Sure, knock yourself out.”

“Yangtastic.” Yang just smiled and gave two thumbs up.

The groan from Ruby was just what she wanted.

* * *

Weiss was alone.

For the first time in 3 days she was alone and it didn’t matter because she still couldn’t remove her teeth.

They hurt so much.

She could feel the shifting and growing but being stopped for teeth left in the impression.

It hurt like few things had hurt in her life and she couldn’t take a pill to reduce the pain because she was in a combat zone and that would be a great way to die. High as hell in a Grimm infested forest.

She decided to at least clear her teeth. She needed this otherwise the pain would attract Grimm.

She found an area hidden by greenery and pulled out her pack with a sigh as she reached into her mouth and pulled out her false teeth.

Some of her real teeth fell out. More than usual. She sighed in annoyance and relief.

She moved quick pulling out the teeth stuck in her false teeth before running a finger along the teeth still in her mouth. A few more fell out from her routine.

Finished she pulled out some cream that would reduce the pain for a time and spread them over her gums before filling her False Teeth with another cream (that was certainly not denture cream) that kept them in place.

She fitted them back into place and went about cleaning up. Collect her teeth and placing them into a cloth bag, she could easily explain away some shark teeth as a collection of sorts or good luck charms, at least until she could grind them up and toss them out.

“What a surprise. A Faunus Schnee.” Said a husky voice she recognized.

“Blake?”

The girl dropped from where she’d been watching in a tree.

Weiss relaxed. From her short impression of this girl she was one of the few humans she’d trust with this secret.

“So daddy a Faunus too? Just a Traitor to his kind.”

Of course with the way she talked she might be Faunus…and those eyes they were slitted like a cat and wow she was slow.

“I assume so, though I’ve never met my real father. If you’re speaking of Jacques then no, though He could hardly be called such.”

It felt quite good to let her opinion be known now. She’d learned to never speak or even think her opinion for fear that it might show on her face.

That her father might punish her again.

At least her reply got Blake to quiet and think.

“So where do you stand?” Blake asked.

“Wherever Jacques doesn’t” she replied.

“Not much of an answer but…I suppose I should give you a chance.”

She removed her beanie to let her ears out.

“Hiding is such a pain.” She groaned.

“You’re telling me, I had to wear these little bastards for 3 days straight.” She said point angrily to her mouth.

“Fuck, that’s not good. Need help when we get back to Beacon. I know a Shark Faunus and I’ve helped him with his teeth before.”

Weiss was on the verge a tears. The Casual offer of help was more than she had ever had.

“Yes, thank you a lot. It’s always hard to get to some of those back teeth with a mirror.”

“Yea that’s what he once said.”

* * *

Ruby skittered down from her place at the top of a tree.

“I see the Temple. Another 3 minutes that way.”

“Cool.” Yang replied with a shrug. The girl was bored.

She was impressive in a fight. Ruby had let her handle the next pack of Grimm to attack them. She wasn’t bad at all and her semblance was nasty.

Ruby could handle this girl as her partner at least.

Maybe she’ll even be worth bringing along after Raven found Mom.

Raven had made a promise to tell her and bring her in if she found where the Cult was holding Mom.

Even if she was looking alone while Ruby was doing school shit.

After her first escape attempt Raven had explained how she’d be keeping Ruby in Beacon while she looked for Mom and Ruby had relented. You couldn’t really run away from a woman who could portal right to you, drag you through said portal and drop you off at Beacon and leave you there.

No point resisting so might as well get what she could from Beacon.

Her explanation that after she left she’d cut Summer out from her Semblance and couldn’t portal to her anymore was sad and annoying.

The woman wouldn’t even explain what had happened aside from her feeling hurt and just wanting out of where she had found herself in life.

And then being too stubborn to go back.

She was glad she didn’t get Raven’s stubborn streak. She’d still be attempted to get out of Beacon if she did.

They entered the clearing with the Temple and Yang turned to her. “Want me to go get the Relic.”

“Sure.” She shrugged and watched over the girl as she jogged to the temple and went inside. After 10 seconds inside she returned with a chess piece.

“Cheap Relics huh?”

Ruby chuckled and nodded.

“Seems like.”

“That was kinda boring not gonna lie. I was hoping for something more action packed.”

And as if in response to Yang comment they heard a loud cracking noise from the forest.

Then an Ursa collapsed into the clearing and the rider, a girl with red hair and pink clothes dropped a hammer crushing the Ursa’s head.

“Woop! I win Ren. You owe me.” The girl then began dancing as a dark haired Mistrali androgyne walked out of the forest.

“I never agreed with your bet Nora. You just yelled ‘Bet you I can ride this Ursa to the Temple.’ Then jumped on the Ursa and started yelling at me to follow you.”

Then another pair entered the clearing. The girl from the Veranda with her Beanie and a White-haired girl who Ruby assumed was her partner.

Then a screech filled the forest and Yang shouted. “Some girl is in trouble!”

“Weiss, get a relic. Then get back here. I hear something big.”

Ruby could hear something too. The hairs on her legs sense the sounds far better than any set of Faunus Ears could at the cost of reduced clarity. She might not be able to listen to whispers across a room but she could isolate the direction of a sound better. A Set of six strikes to the ground in a semi regular rhythm. The sharp clack of claws.

“DeathStalker. 12 o’clock.” She moved to face the direct the Deathstalker was coming from not bothering to shift her legs yet. The soft ground of the forest, still wet from recent rain, was a poor fit for her legs since they ended up just sinking into the dirt.

The rest of her weapons were ready to go though.

She smiled. This might even be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter is a little rushed? I dunno something feels up with it but if I don't post it now I know I'll talk myself out of ever posting it so here we go.
> 
> This story is coming so much easier than Finding Family has.


	4. Chapter 4

The Deathstalker broke through the tree cover while throwing a tree. It hit one of the people who had come into the clearing while making a fighting retreat from it.

The person caught the tree on their shield at least but was knocked back far leaving just their partner in direct combat with a giant fucking Deathstalker.

Yang didn’t hesitate and charged forth, her Semblance burned beneath her skin at the mere thought of the impending challenge as she laughed.

The Deathstalker was focused on the other shield user but still saw or heard her coming and lashed out with one of it’s claws. She saw it coming and used aura to anchor herself as she caught the Claw. She ratcheted up the heat of her Semblance and in response the armored claw began to burn and bubble.

Then she dug her fingers into the rapidly heating material to get a better handle on the beastie.

“What’s the matter? Am I too hot for you?” She snarked.

From behind her her partner passed by and leapt to the DeathStalker’s back before throwing something into the Stalker and leaping off before it could react. She was now trailing what looked like Steel cables.

“White, Black, You’re up.” She called out as she skittered along the ground with her spider legs and Semblance while throwing the other end of the cables into the base of nearby trees before the cables retracted. In a few seconds she had anchored the cables to trees all around the area containing the Deathstalker quite well.

It struggled and screeched in annoyance or anger for a moment before a number of Glyphs appeared on the Grimm’s Three main weapons holding them in place as Blake wrapped her weapon around the stinger before darting under the Stalker and leveraging the Stinger down with the added help of the Glyphs.

“Yang hit the Stinger!” Ruby called to her and Yang just smiled and pulled her fingers out of the claw before leaping up with a burst of flames at her feet and coming down with a drop kick that drove the stinger into the Stalker.

The Stalker collapsed as all she drove all the energy she had been building up since entering the Emerald Forest into the blow the Stinger being riped from the part that connected it to the greater body and being driven completely through the Grimm.

Glyphs disappeared once the Grim began to turn to Grimm-ash while Yang collapsed on the ground to catch her breath and let her Aura heal the tiny microfractures she’d received from that final blow. She’d lost her focus and hadn’t absorbs all the blowback from her final attack and she could feel microfractures healing up from her waist down.

‘Come on girl. You’re ready for this don’t screw up and shatter your bones now.’ She admonished herself for the slip.

She really needed to practice big releases like that for the future.

“No time for rest Yang, Nevermore made a strafing run after you charged in. Other team are holding it off but none of them can nail a decisive blow.”

“No rest for Huntresses yea?” she panted.

Ruby shrugged.

“Sure just get up.”

She groaned and got up. The things she did for a cute girl.

The group moved to assist the other team. They were basically pinned in a defensive formation behind the two shield users. One, a blonde Girl was glowing with a golden light that spread to Yang as she approached and turned to her and gaped.

“How the hell did you manage to get that many microfractures?!”

“Healing Semblance?”

“Yep, just get near me if you need it. I’m a regular Healbot!”

“Look more like a Paladin to me cutie.”

The girl blushed and turned. “Incoming. Get behind us.”

She and her red-headed partner took the Nevermore’s strafing run well.

“Do we have a plan that doesn’t involve me running out of aura and us all getting impaled on feather in the next 5 minutes?” The knightly Blonde asked out loud.

“It’s staying too far for me to get one of my Thorns into it.” Ruby said pulling a dirk from her chest harness. “Anyone able to hit it with this?”

The Red-head spoked up “Is it Magnetic?”

“I assume you want it to be?” Ruby replied sheathing that Dirk and reaching behind her for another. “This one is.”

“Then I can hit it on it’s next Strafe but I don’t be able to hold my place in the shield wall.”

Yang saw the chance and stepped up.

“Burnt up most of my energy on that Stalker so I need the recharge. I’ll take your place.”

With the plan made the group readied themselves for the next Nevermore Strafing run.

The Cable that connected Ruby to her weapon was apparently at max extension as the red-head hovered the dirk between her hands looking through her hands presumably to aim.

The Nevermore committed to a direction and they readied themselves then there was a rain of Feathers coming down towards them. She hardened her Aura wearing it extra thick as she braced herself for the Feathers even as a loud whoosh sounded out as the Red-head fired Ruby’s weapon and Ruby went with it.

The feathers impacted bouncing off her aura. After the first few blows she ignited again reducing the affect of the attack on her.

Overall taking the attack took a chunk of her aura but she had a nice heat going again so she considered it well worth the cost.

Her Partner was clinging to the Nevermore as it pass overhead.

Yang wished her luck.

* * *

The moment the Web attached to one of her Thorns retracted she felt the sudden g-force on every inch of her body. If her Semblance didn’t help with that she’d have blacked out.

She fed aura into her harness and it retracted bringing her into the Nevermore. The Thrown had struck it center mass but being a dirk the damage to a Grimm was minor. It would have deployed it’s hooks the moment it sunk into flesh but she drew more Thorns and threw them into the Nevermore giving her more anchors.

With the Spider legs she darted around to the Nevermore’s back as it rolled and tried everything it could to get her off as she anchored more thorns into it’s back.

Then she shifted her legs into their sword shape and retracted her webs more.

Her legs were sinking into the Nevermore slowly but surely.

It was thrashing around but the light in it’s eyes were still there so she couldn’t stop.

It was descending towards the group of hunter’s in training.

Direct course.

Apparently it decided to take them all out with it.

She threw Thorns into it’s wings until she had both wings somewhat controlled then she began pulling them.

The Nevermore flew upwards as she pulled her thorns and the wings along as the Nevermore missed the other and crashed into the clearing.

The shock of hitting the ground was hefty but her semblance reduced the negative affects enough that she was still fine. The Nevermore was struggling as Yang leapt over it with a flare of Fire before more Fire flew from her back throwing her down in another drop kick which shatter the Nevermore’s head into Grimm-Dust.

She pulled her legs from the Nevermore shifting them back to their standard configuration as she sighed in annoyance.

This was really not how she was used to fighting. It had been sloppy by her standards.

Whatever; She could analyse what she did wrong once they were out of the Grimm infested forest.

“Now lets get out of this Forest before another Ancient Grimm decided to join the party.”

The 4 sets of partners all agreed to stick together until they were out of the forest. After that fight all of them were low on aura.

“My name’s Joan Arc.” Said the healer.

“Pyrhaa Nikos.” Said the Red-head.

“Ruby.” She said as she ignored the group.

It wasn’t like she’d remember any of their names. Yang was easy because of that fuck awful pun she made with her name.

Raven and Qrow had clicked for her as well due to the uniqueness of their name.

Otherwise it’d be months of being reminded before she could hope to remember most of these people’s names.

It wasn’t because she didn’t care. She just did better with faces. How people could even remember names she didn’t know.

They were all keeping silent after introductions as she guided them through the forest.

* * *

After getting out of the Emerald Forest Blake finally allowed everything that had happened to catch up to her.

She had learned long ago the secret to disassociating while in a Grimm Infested Area. It was a good skill for a Huntress to have of course since it meant that Grimm wouldn’t be attracted to your position.

In the wilds it was even more important. Drawing Grimm to your position when you weren’t in a well defend area was dangerous.

You learned to avoid thinking about shit that could bring down Grimm and making yourself forget it even existed until you were somewhere safe to think about them.

It was apparently not the healthiest coping mechanism even if the Grimm made it necessary.

Honestly the moment she saw the Schnee performing maintenance on her Shark Teeth she was confused as hell.

She’d seen the jaw roll but she seriously had not expected the Schnee Heiress to be a Faunus. At least not seriously.

She had decided to at least give the girl the chance to do her maintenance. Korre, Adam’s boyfriend, had often complained about needing to wear False teeth for his job.

And on some of the company retreats where he couldn’t remove them for the night he complained more when he finally could.

With that many teeth she expected it had been over 2 days.

Korre had been on the verge of tears the one time he got to 2 days with them on.

She could have only imagined the pain the girl was in despite not showing it.

That left her impressed even now.

Enough that she had called out to her letting her curiosity override reason.

She had even revealed herself and partnered up with the Schnee.

‘Curiosity kills the cat indeed.’ She thought to herself.

Still she supposed this could be a good thing. If she could convince the Schnee to vocally support the White Fang it’d be a huge blow against the SDC. Well worth the annoyance of coming to Beacon.

She’d need to play this right. She hated tricking people though. It always felt like a betrayal. It was why she rarely did.

The lie of her background was needed. No help for it and she didn’t intend to tell anyone about the false story. It was all about a papertrail for that. The story itself was pointless since she was still herself with the only redacted part being her association with the White Fang.

She have to honestly get to know the Sch- Weiss. She couldn’t fake it to save her life so she’d have to ask her some questions she skipped over in the forest because a Grimm infested forest was the last place to ask about potentially traumatic past events.

She doubted Weiss had a happy childhood being raised so close to a man like Jacques Schnee.

And she knew herself well enough to know that the conversation would get heated.

When her Team was announced as being with Ruby and Yang she was pleased. Having two other Faunus (Presumably Yang was Faunus as she had claimed on the Bullhead.) on her team was a relief.

Ruby being named their leader was also not a huge surprise given that she had come up with the plans for the Deathstalker and the Nevermore.

The other set of partners they’d fought beside was also put on a team together.

If it weren’t for the randomness of picking out a chess piece determining teams she’d say the Headmaster was up to something.

She doubted anyone could rig things when the selection was that random though.

The newly formed Team RWBY were all pleased to sleep.

Yang confirmed her Faunus heritage when she pulled off her leather jacket to stretch a set of Spider Legs.

How she managed to get on a team with two Spider Faunus give how rare they could be was beyond her.

Weiss took the longest in the bathroom, probably taking extra time to wet her skin and clean out her mouth.

Blake could feel the anxiety building up. And pulled out a book and retreated to a corner to read while she waited to see what her partner would do about her being a Faunus with their teammates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trans Girl Joan, Trans Girl Joan. Might do an interlude with her later. For some reason making the character queer makes her 5000% more interesting to me.
> 
> I want to continue work on Finding Family but I just keep going back to this story. I need to reconsider my plans for that one tbh. I have no idea where I'm going with this aside from a few scenes that are to happen later and I'm just enjoying writing this in a way that writing Chapter 4 of FF has just not been.
> 
> Gonna try and at least put of Chapter 4 of FF sometime soon so I can update that fic's notes with an actual update. (I hate to post an update that's basically just this.


	5. Chapter 5

Blake listened intently to her teammates. Weiss was still in the bathroom doing whatever she was doing while Ruby and Yang were talking about their shared Faunus Trait. Listening to how other faunus fighters used their faunus trait was always of interest to her and she’d never met a Spider Faunus before now.

“Our Legs aren’t super useful for more direct fighting in spite of being extra limbs. Sure I have some weapons mounted near the tips I can use but that’s more to complement my semblance. Realistically while our legs are strong they lack the flexibility to make a proper attack. The main ‘offensive’ attack I can make with my legs is what I call a Death-Spin.” Ruby was surprisingly talkative now when she hadn’t said much since the forest. “My Semblance lets me choose the friction of surfaces for myself, alongside some other stuff, so I can basically just spin really really fast with my legs out and totally shred unarmored grimm. You actually saw me coming out of a Death-Spin in the forest. Anyway that’s the only clear offensive use I’ve found for them. You can also use them defensively to take a hit but I really don’t like doing that personally. It’s sorta a last resort for me. Fighting with out legs is really more about using them as the extra sensory organs they are.” Ruby ended with a smirk.

Blake was surprised about that of course. She really hadn’t expected it at all.

“Feel your hairs on them? They’re called setae and they’re super sensitive. I bet you’re used to feeling the smallest things with them when they’re out but you haven’t trained yourself to parse what they’re telling you. I’ve been training with them since I was like 7 so at this point only use my eyes to confirm distances. I’d say I might be better than even a Cat or Dog faunus with ears at picking up minor sounds, though I can’t make out a conversation outside the typical human range.”

Yang had been follow raptly and was nodding with each bit of wisdom Ruby was passing down.

“So what do I do to get that good?”

“Blind-fight training really.” Ruby shrugged. “You have to learn to not rely on your human senses and rely more on your spider-senses.”

“Do they tingle?” Yang asked fighting back laughter. Laughter that Blake had to also fight back.

“Sorta, I mean the air currents are literally moving the hairs so you sense stuff so I guess it could be called a tingle.” Ruby replied with a confused look. “Wait was that a joke of some kind?”

“You don’t get out much huh?” Yang looked at Ruby.

“More like the last time I stayed in a city was after I lost my arm and had to get the limb replacements.” Ruby gestured with her arm to the rest of her body and shrugged. “I don’t like crowds and closed in spaces. Used to sleeping under the stars.”

“Country girl then?” Yang asked with a tone of amusement.

“I guess?” Ruby shrugged again. “Look it’s nice talking with you Yang but I am pretty tired and need to call my mom and figure out how I’m going to sleep tonight.”

“Oh yea sure.” Yang smiled and nodded with two thumbs up. “I’ll just bug Blake for a bit.”

* * *

Ruby left the room to find somewhere private. She had to call Raven, check up on the woman’s search for mom and update her in her agreed upon attempt to try and get to know her.

She still seethed that the woman refused to let her help in the search and that she was instead stuck at Beacon. She still remembered sneaking out of Beacon soon after learning that her mom might still be alive.

She’d gotten down to Vale only to meet Raven at the Airport. The next time she got about a mile outside the city before a Red portal opened up, Raven stepped out of it and just stared at her.

“Okay what the fuck?” she’d questioned glaring back.

“My semblance. It allows me to know the location of and create a portal to anyone who I am emotionally attached to. Now that we’ve met I’ve formed my bond with you so You won’t be able to get far.”

Ruby glared. “You’re not my fucking mom bitch. My mom is out there being kept prisoner by the fucking cult and you’re stopping me from looking for her.” She yelled angrily. She so rarely got angry like this, loud and explosive. Usually she seethed letting the anger simmer until she had a chance to let it out in a whirlwind of death.

Raven shook her head. “I’m sorry but I can’t let you go out and risk yourself like that. In addition how are you going to look for Summer? Do you have contacts who might be able to point you in a direction?” 

“No-”

“How about leads?”

“Not re-”

“How fast can you travel to follow up on a lead if you luck out and find one?”

“I mean faster than most.”

“How many miles a day Ruby?”

“Maybe 50 miles in a day of travel over land. Can’t do anything over sea.”

“I can cover 150 miles in 8 hours and still be ready to fight on arrival. No terrain slows me. I also get the benefit of a Bird’s Eye view.”

Then she turned into a Raven. It was Magic. The most childish parts of her lighted at seeing real magic performed in front of her.

Then the message sank in.

Raven really was the better choice. She was older and probably had some contacts to help her track down wherever the cult was holding mom and with her mobility.

“Fine, you’re right but when you find mom I’m helping get her out. I refuse to sit on the side-lines and-”

Raven returned to human form.

“Of course, I would never deny you that Ruby. I’ll keep you updated as I find more. Qrow will be coming with me hopefully his semblance will work for us.”

Ruby was always interested in semblances “What’s his semblance?”

“Luck, basically he has a bunch of bad luck around him but sometimes an incident of that bad luck can turn into good luck if you know what to look for. Knowing his semblance we’ll run dick first into a nest of 50 Ancient Deathstalkers being gathered up by the cult and have to fight our through it but the leader will know something about Summer and give us a lead.”

“That sounds both convenient and incredibly inconvenient.” She commented.

“Yes.” Raven replied with a deadpan. “That sounds like Qrow in a nutshell.”

Of course after that she had kept to her word. Her word was her bond and she refused to break it.

She pulled out the Scroll, her first one actually, and called one of the two contacts she’d programmed into it. ‘Mama Bird’ and ‘Bird Brain’. Sure she didn’t really think of Raven as her mom but at the same time she couldn’t resist the joke.

The scroll rang twice because being picked up.

“Sup Squirt?” replied the voice of Qrow.

* * *

The calming scent of Salt water filled her senses as she relaxed in the bathtub. It had been 4 days since her last salt water bath, as her bodyguard had insisted upon being in the room during her showers.

Soaking in salt water was immensely pleasing to her skin, senses and her gills as the water ran over her gills in a pleasing way. There was soap scum in the tub, little she could really do about that but it was only annoying and not painful for her.

Realistically she knew it wasn’t needed. Any water would do, her gills could breath in either salt or fresh water in spite of her being a shark Faunus and no shark having that ability. It was one of those common oddities among Faunus that the abilities their faunus traits granted them rarely mapped onto real-world animals beside the entirely superficial. While her skin did dry out faster than the average person she had a moisturizing cream that handled the job amazingly. Once she’d found ways to hide her Scroll extranet traffic from Jacques (And it was so nice being able to refer to that man by his name rather than what he insisted she call him.) she’d done research on various things relating you her faunus heritage.

The Skin issue had been an issue for her before that and Jacques had been furious that she wasn’t keeping to her beauty routine as was dictated by her status.

As Heiress she had to be perfect in every way and that included appearance. Given the man’s insistence on that subject it was the primary thing is cared about.

Her new lotion, made for humans but which got a lot of recommendations from other faunus with similar issues, had cut her routine from taking an hour to being done in 10 minutes.

She much preferred it.

She was also delaying. Blake, her partner, had been quite correct when she declared that ‘hiding is such a pain’ the minute she had spent exposed as it were was the first minute of her life where she was in front of someone else with her Faunus Features on display.

Blake was understandably hostile towards Jacques, a feeling she shared, but that she was willing to partner with her and give her an opportunity was a heady feeling. Could Blake possibly be considered a friend? Maybe? Her lack of friends before this point made her unable to judge, but she hoped so.

The question of revealing herself to the rest of her team was even a question in her mind. The idea of returning to hiding was simply not something she thought she could do any more.

She would once classes began but at least in this room she would try to be herself.

Whoever that might be. She hoped she was a good person. Someone that Blake could call a friend. Was it even possible that she could be a good person when she had been raised by Jacques.

She wasn’t sure what she would do if she turned out to be a person like Jacques.

In any case she closed up her gills before standing out of the tub and wiping herself down with a towel. She applied her lotion, dress for bed and generally moved through her routine. Until she had a way of handling Jacques she needed maintain some aspects of Weiss Schnee, instead of just becoming fully Weiss.

Once that was finished she took a breath, set her false teeth aside for the morning and walked out of the bathroom.

* * *

When Weiss finally left the bathroom (What was she even doing in there for so long anyway?) she looked around the room her body language showing nervousness while her eyes shower annoyance and fear. Yang was about to say something with Weiss’ attention shifted to her and her faunus trait.

She looked gob-smacked (Yang was pleased to finally have a face to put to the word because she’d always wanted to use that word…in fact.) “What’s up princess? You look pretty gobsmacked.”

“Where’s Ruby? I wanted to speak to you all about something important.”

Yang might not be the most attentive but even she noticed the new whispering lisp Weiss had affected.

“Went to make a call.” She replied as Weiss nodded and sat on her bed pulling her legs close and wrapping her arms around herself.

Yang was annoyed by the way she was acting but decided she’d follow Blake’s lead here given that Weiss had said nothing disparaging at all.

Speaking of Blake at some point she had pulled off her beanie to let her ears free.

Cat Faunus, Panther unless Yang missed her guess.

After a few minutes Ruby entered the room with an annoyed look before retreating to her corner and glaring at it.

Weiss cleared her throat. Ruby didn’t react. “Ruby, I wanted to speak to you all about a personal issue I suppose you could call it. Given that we will be teammates for at least the next four years I find that I must reveal something to you all and answer any questions you all might have.”

“Okay, go ahead…White? It starts with a W right?”

“Uh yes?”

“Cool, that’s two names down.”

“No, I mean my name is Weiss.”

“I’m never going to remember that. Can I just call you White?”

Weiss just stared.

“I have troubles remembering names okay. Literally the only reason Yang’s name stuck is she made an awful fucking pun a minute into meeting her. I’m thinking of you two as White and Black.”

“Checkmate!” Yang shouted.

“What was that for you brute?” Weiss shouted back.

“Just thought that if I were to make a pairing name for you two it’d be Checkmate.” Yang explained her thought process. “It’s just too good not to use. Now I’m going to have to get you two together.”

“I already have a girlfriend.” Blake interjected.

“Well then I’m just going to have to get her onboard for a Triad. I can’t not use Checkmate.”

“You could just use it as a sort of sub-team name.” Blake suggested.

“I could but It’s so much better as a pairing name.”

Blake groaned and gave up throwing her hands in the air.

“Weiss you wanted to say something but Yang distracted us.” Ruby reminded everyone.

Weiss took a minute to gape and in that time Yang noticed the sharp inhuman tips of her teeth.

‘What the-’

“I’m a Faunus. Shark specifically. I don’t know who my biological father is as my mother has done a fine job of drinking herself into a stupor since I can remember. Truthfully growing up I envied her once I knew enough to know that if Jacques Schnee ever found out about me he’d have me killed in a tragic accident or more likely a false flag assassination by the ‘White Fang’. And my mother would not be soon behind. So please keep this to yourselves until I have everything in place for my emancipation.”

“Aren’t you like 20?” Yang asked.

“Yes, but I don’t see-”

“She means that in Vale you’re a legal adult at 18 and can make your own decisions legally. It’s not the same in Atlas, It’s 25 unless you’re a Hunter or sue for file for emancipation. Realistically most parents don’t make use of it after 18 but the Schnee aren’t most.”

“Yes, precisely. Though would that I were a citizen of Vale, it would make everything so much easier. I also have to take precautions to keep him from having me killed after I leave the family. He would consider me a blight about the family if my heritage was revealed to him without some sort of insurance in place on my part. Presently that is the part that is keeping me away from acting to separate myself from him.”

“What are you going to do once you’re out?” Blake asked.

“I’m not sure. Live is at the top of the list of course but that’s not terribly specific. I’d like to do something to make the world a better place for everyone I suppose. My family has done more than enough to make it worse so I’ll be happy to help reverse some of that family karma so to speak.”

“Right secret safe with me.” Ruby said. “No Question from me and unless anyone else has question we really should get to sleep. Class in the morning and all.”

“Yea I’m with Ruby here Weiss, Your secret is safe with us. Might have question later but that can wait.”

“Agreed.” Blake said simply.

“Thank you all. I suppose I’ll see you all in the morning then. Good night.”

And with that they all settled into their beds for a much needed night of sleep.


	6. Interlude 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: Psychological torture

**Interlude: Raven**

Raven walked into The Spider’s Den. Little Miss Malachite was easily one of the best information brokers on remnant that were also explicitly opposed to the Cult of Salem. The woman either had enough sense not be support them or a grudge against them because she gave out info on the cult for prices far less than similar info on anything else.

Raven had a good idea of what she was looking for and The Spider was one of the few people in this world she felt confidant might be able to provide what she needed.

“Well as I live and breathe. Cigfran, so good to see you.” The words came from the shadows and in spite of the speaker Raven knew the woman was being truthful.

“It’s been 4 weeks Corryn, not 4 years.”

The Spider shrugged in reply.

“So you found your wayward Ward then? I’m happy for you. Though I’m sure the Cult is happier still at her enrollment at Beacon. She’s become quite the pwca for them these last few years.”

“Apparently I’ll be taking her place for at least a bit.”

That got a raised eyebrow from the woman.

“Then take a seat. Seems we have business.”

Raven finally did, just because she was on friendly terms with Little Miss Malachite didn’t mean that she didn’t give her the respect she demanded.

“So then I have some information on your daughter If you give me something in return.”

“I was sure I had already bought all her information.”

“Oh this is fresh information. On her new Team. One of her little teammates aren’t who her papers says she is. I’m certain you’d like to know that.”

The hint was enough for Raven.

“Deal. They didn’t kill Summer. Salem managed to get a Geas out of Salem to not hunt down Ruby in return for her cooperation in some experimentation.”

There was plenty in Summer’s note that she hadn’t transcribed for Ruby. Things she didn’t need to know yet.

“And you’re going to be looking for her then.”

“Exactly.”

The Spider nodded and smiled. “Seems one of my best customers is going to continue patronizing me.”

“And the Teammate?”

The Spider pulled out a file labeled Team RWBY and slid it across the table.

“Information on all of them. Just for the sake of completion.”

Raven nodded and set the file aside for now.

“I need info that will hopefully lead me to where the cult is holding Summer.”

“Given that I didn’t even know she was still alive why do you think I’d have that?”

The woman knew she probably had the information even if it wasn’t labeled with ‘Secret Silver-eyes Testing Facility’

“Let me be more specific then. I need the locations of every unregistered village sprang up around a mine. Remote is better but the possibility exists that they’re somewhere closer to civilization. I doubt it though. Low Tourism Prospects.”

“That’s a lot of villages, and going to cost a lot of Lien. Also take some time to put together. Not a request I’d normally expect and prepare for.”

“How much?”

“One week and Five hundred Thousand.”

Raven pulled out her scroll.

“Still use the same account?”

With a nod she transfered the requested sum, far less than she expected but the involvement of the cult probably knocked the price down a bit.

“Thank you for your Business. Now how about a drink to celebrate you finding your daughter at least.”

Raven didn’t refuse. She could use a drink that wasn’t her brother’s swill.

* * *

**Interlude: Summer**

She sat in her room, as she had for however long she’d been here. Time didn’t have much meaning when there was nothing to mark the passing of days, months or even possibly years.

When she had agreed to the Geas from Salem she had expected a lot but this was none of those things.

‘The Cult will not actively hunt your Daughter. In return you will not attempt escape. Should you break this Geas the agreement becomes Void and I’ll send Tyrian to have his fun with little Ruby.’ She still remembered Salem’s words. In person. She’d brought out her Silver eye flash hoping to end things once and for all when the immortal Queen of Grimm first approached her but after Salem merely raised her eyebrow unbothered by the light she’d taken what she could get. Every day she was in this hellhole was a day that Ruby could grow up. She’d left a coded message to Raven in the hopes that Ruby might find her and give Raven the clues she needed to find her and get her out. Confirm that Ruby was grown up and able to defend herself from the Cult.

“Damn it Rae, when are you going to get here.”

“Dunno.” Said the hallucination of Raven. “When are you going to put out?”

She knew it was a hallucination because it didn’t act like Raven. It acted more like her.

“Yea mom. Mam is all pent up and needs your loooove~” Said the hallucination of Ruby just as she’d left her all those days-weeks-months-years-decades-centuries ago.

“You’re both hallucinations brought on by solitary confinement.” She tried reasoning the hallucinations away.

“That doesn’t make us any less real.” They said with their voice mixing together.

“Please go away. I can’t do this again.” She knew that soon they would rescue here again. She’d start to believe they were really there then that would all be ripped away from her when she woke one day in the darkness of her cell once more.

“But we love you. Don’t you love us.”

She cried and hid her face. If she could see nothing then she’d couldn’t be hurt once more.

‘Please come soon Rae. I’m not sure how much longer I can last.’

Then she heard the singing as the clams returned to the walls and belted out showtunes.

* * *

**Interlude: Warden**

He chuckled as the Silver-eyes warrior crumpled further into herself. The light of the SSD (Semblance Storage Device) fading out. The device was expensive but her Holy Majesty had ordered the Silver-eyes tortured to complete insanity. She had given her word not to physically harm the woman in her time imprisoned but left open the possibility of psychological torture.

A fact he enjoyed greatly since it meant he could engage in his favorite past time.

The SSD contained the aura of one of the Sin-Archbishop Wrath’s little unblessed pets. She had a Semblance that let her wrap one person within her range of perception into a world of her making. A Fascinating Semblance especially when combined with his own which caused all affected to be struck with mind-numbing fear.

Thanks to Solitary confinement the woman was already hallucinating so all he needed to do was provide little bit of stimulation to push her over an edge. Provide new nightmares to feed the Grimm they were raising in this facility.

She was an excellent source of Negative emotions. Possibly a side affect of her being a Silver-eyes. Likely his Queen knew this to be the case which was why she offered the Geas in the first place. He’d personally never seen a Drachen grow quite as quickly as the one in this facility was growing now. Soon it would be ready to serve. Apparently as a gift from the Queen to her Sin-Archbishop Wrath.

None of this was of great consequence to him however. As Warden of this facility it was his tasked to torture his inmates to provide food for the Grimm.

He moved to the next room, another Silver-eyes who had been abducted from their bed. He trades out his SSD for a more fully charged one and began his blessed work. More food for the Grimm.

* * *

**Interlude: Qrow**

“That’s cool kid. Glad you’ve taken a liking to your team. Just don’t let things become like our team got. Sum, Rae and Tai really fucked things up with their dumb shit.”

“Like?”

“Drama, I dunno I mostly stayed a kingdom away from all that.”

“You’re an ass, did you know that?” the squirt sighed with such a Raven-like sigh of annoyance he had to stop himself from reacting like he would to his sister.

“Yes, and?”

“Tell Raven I called.” She said before hanging up.

“Rude little Corynnod” he muttered putting the scroll back in Raven’s Pack.

She’d probably threaten to stab him when she found out, not that he gave much of a shit.

“Don’t touch my stuff Qrow.”

“Speak of the devil. How was your sister?”

“Don’t call her that.” Raven replied sitting down in one of the hotel room chairs and opening a folder.

“Surprised she had what we were looking for that quick.”

“One week, This is on Ruby’s team.” She replied.

“Yea she told me about being on a team with your other Daughter. You realize neither know about that right?”

“I’ll tell them…eventually.” Raven avoided the issue.

“Whatever, not my daughters.” He shrugged.

“So why the file?”

“One of them is White Fang. Hid her identity to get in. Not just any White Fang but the Belladonna. Apparently she’s transitioned since she dropped off the map.”

That caught Qrow’s interest.

“Wouldn’t have guessed that. She breaking from the Fang or something else?”

“Might have something to do with the Schnee Heiress who she’s partnered to.”

“Fucking hell Ozpin. You put the Schnee Heiress in a team with three Faunus. What the fuck is the old fart smoking now?”

“Fuck if I know. There’s a reason I told him to fuck off 20 years ago. This is just another in a long line of fuckups from Ozpin the Almighty as far as I’m concerned.”

Qrow really wanted to defend the man but couldn’t in this case. That team would be in for drama regardless of anything else. With a White Fang member on the team he suspected it’d be sooner rather than later.

“So what are we doing about this?”

“Nothing for now. Ruby and Yang can handle this I feel.”

“Sis, you can’t honestly believe that they won’t get caught right in the middle of whatever’s happening.”

“Of they won’t be caught, they’ll be right there in the middle of things. It’s in their nature.”

Qrow was as always annoyed with his sister. And okay maybe a little overprotective of Yang. He hated that he liked the kid. Thing would be so much easier if she was someone he could ignore but nope instead he had to feel for the little brat. He hoped it had nothing to do with the fact that he’d carried the blonde menace for 9 months for his sister. It was not a great time for him on the dysphoria front. He didn’t regret it but he’d gotten his damn ovaries yanked out as soon as it was medically safe to do so. Never again.

“Just promise me we’ll swoop in if they ask for help.”

“Of course.” His sister said while focusing on the file.

“I think it’s a White Fang Training Op. Just like what sent us to Beacon.”

“Heh. So the Schnee is just coincidence?”

“My guess is mostly. I mean nobody, not even Malachite, knew the Schnee was going to Beacon. Atlas maybe but Beacon?”

“Still not going to be a pretty time.”

“No arguments here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of the non English is welsh. At least what I could find through wikipedia and Google translate.
> 
> After my last update I said I was going to write some fluff. Apparently I lied because this happened. Still not as heavy as the other update.


	7. Delay: Duration Unknown. Details

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tl;dr: There's gonna be a delay while we figure out our writing process again. Details below.

So this is not the update I wanted to make but at this point we just can't continue writing as we were. The reason? We have OSDD-1a, for those less aware of what this means it makes us a Plural/system or the more common term MPD(Multiple Personality Disorder). We don't really like the term MPD simply due to the connotation it has with media portraying those of us who are plural as being dangerous and shit but it's also the best way to get people to understand some aspects of the situation.

So from this point forward any author comments will be tagged with which alter (the term for independent personalities) is speaking.

B: Hey, I'm Blake. I'm the host(The one in control of the body more than any other) and the closest thing to an 'original' Ys that exists. I'm the one most interested in continuing to write and the one who's calling this break to figure things out between us all. I use She and They pronouns.

X: I'm Alyx and I'm still very new to the system having just woke up yesterday. Any/all pronouns are good for me.

N: Nyx. They/she

Z: I'm Zoe. She/her. I would stay and talk but kinda not that interested in all this.

B: We also have another but they won't be joining us right now. In addition we might still have others forming; Alters which might further affect things. So I'll talk about some of our insights into how our system works that I'm willing to share so that those reading this can know why we need to take some time to figure things out again.

B: Basically I am not the same Ys that wrote everything. Because before we/I accepted our plurality we were sorta mashed together. Parts that didn't fit being held together by force and the power of denial. Having accepted our nature the parts of ourselves that we drew on for various parts of our writing are now separate with wills of their own. Effectively if we are to write again we'll need to act as co-authors sharing the same body and that means that instead of being one will writing this we not only have to figure ourselves out (again we thought we were done with gender stuff and the return of it all is annoying to us all) but how we can work together to write and settle on stories we're interested in telling together.

B: As a 1a system our alters tend to be a variant on the base Ys template as we call it. My girlfriend who I live with says that she can tell the difference between us while seeing the parts that showed when we were mashed together. We also get along very well because we had over a year to tackle the possibility of being a system. As such even as the host who is the one who largely interacts with the outside world I still consider myself no more important than the others. Even the title of host is one I take as a more descriptive term than proscriptive(Basically I accept the title of Host because I am the default fronter for our system. I don't consider that title to allow me greater power within our system)

B: But I'm guessing I'm getting a bit distracted from my original post. Basically I want to continue writing. Nyx and Alyx are interested in helping and Zoe might if we want to write something that interests her. Our last Alter would only participate in certain content that the rest of us are not terribly interested in writing so she's unlikely to ever make an appearance here.

B: I'll be moderating comments for my stuff because I'm half-expecting some hateful comments from this.

B: I rarely make fic recommendations but [**"The Many Faces of Har--er, Adira Potter"** by Fayanora](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4394258/chapters/9976385) It's Harry Potter which I feel a bit iffy recommending given that JK is a shitty person who coded a lot of right-wing shit into her books however this has a ton of great stuff as I remember so I'll leave it here for those who maybe are interested in it to check out. I can't thanks the authors of this enough for giving us our first positive depiction of plurality and priming us to be ready for this. If it weren't for this fic we might be in a way worse situation.

B: Hope we can return to some sort of update schedule once we figure stuff out. <3


End file.
